Down the ballot: A hero's welcome?

The New York Times' headline of Ted Stevens' return to Alaska: "Ted Stevens Receives a Hero's Welcome in Alaska." From the story: "Two days after he was convicted on seven felony counts in Washington, Senator Ted Stevens returned to Alaska on Wednesday night to begin a six-day campaign sprint, telling several hundred supporters at a rally here that he would be vindicated on appeal and asking them to elect him to a seventh term. 'I will represent Alaska in the senate while my lawyers pursue the appeals to clear my name,' Mr. Stevens said."

"Mr. Stevens made no reference to those demands on Wednesday, but he spent half of his eight-minute speech criticizing his conviction. He expressed regret but stopped short of apologizing, saying he had been guilty only of naïveté. 'Like most people, I'm not perfect,' Mr. Stevens said at one point, before referring to Mr. Allen. 'I naïvely trusted someone who I thought was an honest friend, when he was neither honest nor a friend. That naïve trust, however, has put all Alaskans and my family through an ordeal that I deeply regret.'"